NOTES FOR THE MEETING ON 22ND DECEMBER 2001
What shall we do next year?
This meeting will be your opportunity to tell me what it is you'd like me to be discussing in the Spring sessions starting on January 19th.
Naturally, I have various ideas, but I'd like to hear what YOU want to learn - even if my only answer is "sorry, no can do". It has become clear to me that while many of you are quite skilled in using your computers, you have no idea what goes on "under the bonnet". Just as it helps when driving a car to know, in general terms, what happens when, for example, you depress the clutch pedal, so with computing it helps to understand the basics of operating systems, file naming conventions, boot sequences and other technical stuff. The sort of question to be answered is "Why is my hard disk C:? Why not A: or Q:?"Therefore my ideas are as follows:
(1) Microsoft Operating Systems from DOS to Windows XP. I will explain how things evolved to give us the interface we use today. This will lead us to
(1a) The FAT filing systems - conventions, extensions, directories, drive letters.
(1b) Interfaces - command lines, GUIs,
(1c) Memory - the different types (conventional, expanded, extended, pages, cache, RAMdisk)
(2) Computer hardware. What exactly *is* a hard disk? Why is a floppy disk hard? What are parallel ports, serial ports, USB etc?
(3) The Windows Interface. How to do things under windows - create files, directories, even themes. Housekeeping (defragging, backup etc).
(3a) The Desktop. Shortcuts. Right clicking. Explorer. My Computer. Help files
You will notice that there is no mention of specific applications here (such as Microsoft Word or Star Office). This is because I strongly feel that these are a more personal thing, and that once you understand the underlying principals behind ALL software, you can learn any specific package yourself.
There is an old manual of mine - "First Steps in Computing". If there is enough demand, I'll bring this up to date and re-release it, although I may need to ask for a contribution towards costs.
SURGERIES
On the Saturdays when we haven't got a session, and assuming I am free, I will invite people with problems to come to The Oasis and discuss them with me. I envisage you bringing in your computers for a "MOT" and for me to explain to everybody present what I'm doing.
January 5th
Because so many people will still be away, I propose January 5th to be a question and answer session, with discussion about anything (in the computer world) that interests or bothers you.
If you have any suggestions, please e-mail them to me at questions@billnot.com before the meeting if possible, so that I can think about them!
Hope to see you Saturday.